AS Celtic fans vent their fury over Celtic's bid for Leigh Griffiths CRAIG says tarring the Wolves hitman as a nutter, and as a player who won’t improve them, is unfair.

THE response to Celtic’s move for Leigh Griffiths from their own fans has been baffling in many ways.

From almost the second that Neil Lennon began speaking about the striker as a potential asset this week, the phone-ins and websites have been in meltdown. Celts fans are seemingly disgusted by the move.

They are annoyed that the club’s search for a hitman of proven Champions League quality has taken them into England’s League One to get a guy from Wolves.

Now before we get to why that’s an insult to Griffiths, you might recall that Sports View opined – on the day after Celtic’s exit from the Champions League this season – that the Hoops are not genuine contenders at that level.

They are participants because if you want to have success in Europe’s top tournament you are looking at sums which the club just can’t afford.

The figure of £6m has carried a mystique around the Celtic support this month, mainly because Lennon suggested that if the right player was to become available for that transfer fee, the club afford to sign him.

But what’s the minimum wage for a £6m striker? Given few exceptions, it’s unlikely to fall beneath the £30,000-a-week mark, which instantly breaks the club’s pay structure.

Celtic fans feel that, although the project model is right, spending a huge sum once in a while isn’t much too much to ask.

But while the fee would be a one-off, the wage wouldn’t. If Celtic pay one individual the £40,000 plus per week he’d want, there is a danger of upsetting the rest of the dressing room. Every manager is at their chairmen, asking for as much as they can, and Lennon is right to try for a big-money signing. He wouldn’t be doing his job if he didn’t.

But the point for the bean counters is, in Champions League terms, what would £6m get you? The training cones at Bayern Munich probably cost more and Celtic are simply not in a position to compete.

Celtic were ALWAYS going to buy a striker this month who would fit their budget and their model. The trouble with Griffiths, to an extent, is that people know him.

They know him as a Dundee player, a Livingston player, a Hibs player, a Wolves player. Just because he’s not an unknown doesn’t mean he’s not a project.

When Gary Hooper was signed from Scunthorpe, was he Champions League material? The answer is no and he was signed at 22. Lennon and his team, allied with the player’s ability, made him good enough.

Griffiths is 23 and who is to say that Lennon and his backroom staff can’t do the same? It makes the response to his signing bizarre.

There are those who point to his off-field indiscretions but he’s not the first to walk in the doors of Parkhead with a bit of background.

If Luis Suarez, with every sin he’s committed, was unveiled in a hooped shirt, Celtic fans would do cartwheels. To tar Griffiths as a nutter, and as a player who won’t improve them, is unfair.